Dear Diary, Busy busy day. I have learned a lot today and shared a lot of information as well. Most interesting thing I learned today was about Chatbots. This is a 35 minute podcast about a german chatbot service by Anne Christensen discussed at an ACCESS conference. This chatbot is named Stella and has gotten marriage proposals, been asked to remove her clothes to which she asks if the user is a medical student and if they would like to be directed to medical sites? Ha! http://www.access2006.uottawa.ca/?page_id=10
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The above has had been greatly helpful as a MARKETING TOOL even though it was originally planned to help with Information Literacy.
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I had written about Verbots in 2000. So I shared that information with my co-workers. Verbots in the Library" presented by David Bennett of Robert Morris College Library, Pittsburgh. A "verbot" is a verbal robot, and, in this case, the verbot is a computer animation with speech synthesis that understands natural language queries.
Bennett talked Virtual Personalities Inc. into giving his library a free copy of their verbot software, including the character Sylvie, a sassy young woman with attitude. Bennett set her up on a PC with dual monitors near the reference area to answer directional questions.
Because Sylvie can open Windows-based programs, she goes beyond giving verbal replies to queries; she can respond to a policy question by opening a Word document or to a request for a Pittsburgh map by opening a Web page from MapQuest. Bennett showed how easy it is to script questions and answers into Sylvie's database and how to change her facial expressions.
When asked what impact Sylvie has had on his library, Bennett said that no workflow study had been done, but the staff had had a lot of fun scripting Sylvie and the library's image on campus had been enhanced. Click this link for more information.
For more current information on Verbots,
see here: http://www.verbots.com/products.php
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Also, I shared information on a Tanzanian library automation project.
African Countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania
The Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois Library at Urbana- Champaign has received a three-year, $499,900 grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Seven African grantee university institutions have been chosen to receive funds and assistance with incorporating fully automated online catalog and computer- based library management system through trainings and set- up of technical support and communication systems: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/mortenson/Documents/Carnegie_Press.htm
